


Burger Queen or Bomino's?

by Nozoroomie



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: F/F, Multi, originally a one shot cut down into chapters, ot3rd years as a birthday present for myself, pushing 20k words and still going now, subtle NicoEli and NozoNico moments throughout the whole story, thanks @ me, this is one long fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-14
Updated: 2017-04-05
Packaged: 2018-10-05 05:56:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 21,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10299137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nozoroomie/pseuds/Nozoroomie
Summary: After graduation, the third years decide to move in together and share an apartment as they attend university together. Nico loves living with her friends, but as more time passes, the more her feelings for them grow from friendship to something else. When Nozomi and Eli start becoming a little distant with each other, Nico worries the reason might be because of her. With that on her mind, Nico contemplates whether she should leave so Nozomi and Eli's relationship isn't strained, or stay and watch it fall apart in front of her.





	1. Bomino's

**Author's Note:**

> HELLO EVERYONE! I realize I've past the date I said I would update my latest ongoing fic with, but I just had to write this story while I still had it on my mind. And boy has it been difficult, but so worth it. My need for domestic NozoNicoEli fluff has been satisfied and I can't wait to upload the rest of the story for you all to see.
> 
> Thank you to my friend Hannah (@ Fireflypendants on twitter) for the hilarious knock off name for a certain pizza place. 
> 
> Because I have most of this fic done already (just not in order) updates for this will be very fast and probably done within the week! Please look forward to it!

The sound of a key turning in the lock echoes through the apartment cluttered with boxes. Shortly after, the door knob twists and the door opens just a smidge. From the other side, Nico carefully pushes the rest of the door open, holding a stack of boxes that climb just a bit higher than she is. All of them aren’t incredibly heavy, but carrying them up the stairs to their apartment takes its toll on her tired arms.

“Finally,” Nico sighs, balancing the boxes carefully as she closes the door behind her. “Oi Nozomi! Eli! I’ve got the final boxes!” 

“Great!” Eli calls from down the hall. “What’s written on them?”

“Uhhh,” Nico twists her head to try to find a label and instead just finds Nozomi’s name scribbled on the side. “I think it’s all Nozomi’s? Nozomi why didn’t you label what the boxes were?! I don’t know where to take them!”

“Because those are probably my personal belongings!” Nozomi calls from the kitchen, “Take them to Elichi, she’s in our room right now!”

Nico grunts and adjusts her hold on the boxes before making her way down the hall to the last room. She walks through the doorway, finding a nice clear spot out of the way and placing all three boxes down there. She exhales a tired breath and stretches, happy to be done the difficult parts of moving. When her back cracks she hums contently and relaxes, looking over to Eli as she examines the placement of the boxes.

“What are you thinking about?” Nico asks, noticing Eli’s frown.

Eli turns to Nico and brings a hand down from her chin, giving her a soft smile.

“I was thinking about what wall to put the bed on.” She explains, sticking her hands in her pockets. “Nozomi and I won’t be able to pick it up for another few days, but I felt planning ahead wouldn’t be so bad.”

“Ah. Well, you have fun with that.” Nico says, waving her hand. “I’m gunna go see whatever Nozomi’s up to. Have we figured out what we’re having for dinner?”

“God, I haven’t even thought about that.” Eli groans and sighs. “I’ll just go with whatever you two decide.”

“Got it.” Nico flashes her a thumbs up before heading to down the hall towards the kitchen. She finds Nozomi with an open box in front of her and a lot of different kitchen utensils scattered around the kitchen, including her pig tea kettle in its new home on the stove top. She steps closer to her to peer into the box only to find it’s empty.

“Getting the kitchen set up?” Nico asks with a curious stare. Nozomi nods.

“I was hoping that the move would be faster and we might have time to go to the store to make something for dinner, but halfway through emptying this box I became too tired to even think about cooking.” She laughs a little as she holds up a ladle. “You’d think that after so many moves I’d remember something like that.”

Nico frowns a little and reaches over to her, poking her hard in the upper arm. 

“Hey. You know what makes this move better?” Nico asks and Nozomi hums, waiting for an answer. “Me. I make it better.”

Nozomi chuckles softly and shakes her head. 

“You certainly do.” She says with a smile. She keeps her hold on the ladle and glances to stove, focusing her attention on the burners. She turns the ladle a couple times in her hands before speaking in a quieter voice. “If you told me three years ago I’d be moving in with my best friends after graduation, I never would have believed you.” 

Nico sidesteps closer to Nozomi, nudging her gently with her arm. Nozomi turns towards her with slightly watery eyes. Nico gives her a tender smile and reaches up, poking her cheek lightly.

“You’ll never have to come home to an empty house again, alright? You’ve got me and Eli here, and if you do end up coming back to an empty house, the only reason will be because Eli and I are already with you, so we all get to arrive home together.”

Nozomi’s eyes water some more and Nico pokes her cheek a little harder.

“Ah! Hey! No crying! Today is a good day and we’re gunna spend it doing nothing the moment we decide what to have for dinner.”

“R-right. Dinner.” Nozomi says with a wet laugh, reaching up to wipe her eyes from the bit of tears that pooled at their rims. “I guess we’ll be ordering take out?”

“Yeah, looks like it. Eli said she’ll have whatever we decide so what are you feeling like?” Nico asks. She pulls her phone out of her pocket and opens it up to the browser, looking for close by restaurants they’d be able to run to.”We’ve got a Burger Queen and a Bomino’s pizza down the road if we want something fast and greasy.” 

“Ooh, did you say pizza?” Nozomi decides to peer over and look at Nico’s screen to see what else may have popped up in her search. “We could always get pizza. It’s an easier clean up, and they deliver!”

“Oh my god- you’re right, okay it’s settled we’re getting pizza.” Nico immediately clicks on their website, browsing the online menu. “What do you want for toppings? I’m pretty okay with everything but pineapple. If you two want it, we can get separate pizzas because I don’t need that in my life.”

The green eyed girl starts laughing loudly, the sounds of it echoing off the many blank walls in their apartment

“I’m serious! It sounds like I’m kidding but I’m not!” Nico glares her way, which only makes her laugh harder.

“What’s going on in there?!” Eli calls to them. Nico’s quick to reply.

“We’ve decided on Bomino’s but stupid Nozomi is laughing because I said no pineapple!” 

“What’s wrong with pineapple?!” Eli shouts, much closer than before. Nico does a one eighty and peers out the entrance towards the blonde, narrowing her eyes at her.

“What do you mean ‘what’s wrong with pineapple’?! Everything! That does not belong on pizza! It’s disgusting and mushy and unappealing. The texture is as horrible as it’s tastes and the only place pineapple belongs is on its own, in a fruit salad or in some kind of pineapple dessert.” Nico’s retort is passionate and firm. Nozomi wheezes in the background. Eli frowns as she reaches the kitchen, quickly noticing Nozomi as she clutches onto the counter top for support. 

“I mean, it’s not my favourite but it’s not that bad.” She reasons and Nico frowns. “It’s alright when ham is on the pizza too.”

Nico makes a face of disgust. Nozomi’s laughter begins to wind down into smaller giggles as she pushes herself away from the counter. There’s a brief moment of silence from her before she covers her mouth to hide some final chuckles.

“Are you telling me you’ve willingly eaten pineapple on your pizza, Ayase Eli?” Nico asks, her voice laced with nothing but abhorrence. 

“Y… yeees?” Eli draws out her answer, hesitantly continuing. “I don’t understand the huge deal about this?”

Nico turns to Nozomi with a pointed stare. 

“I pity you, Nozomi.” She says sympathetically. Nozomi’s laughter finally subsides and she sighs contently.

“It’s okay, If Elichi didn’t like pineapple on her pizza, it’d make her almost as perfect as you are.” She jokes as Eli pouts, crossing her arms and staring at the two of them. Nico smirks a little.

“A fair point.” She laughs at how Eli glowers and she goes back to her phone, opening the pizza creator and looking at the toppings list. “Seriously though, we can all agree on no pineapple, right?”

“I’m sure we’ll all live without pineapple.” Nozomi answers with a smirk.

“Good. Eli, what do you want on it?” Nico turns to the pouty blonde, “Bell peppers? We know how much you like those.”

“I do enjoy bell peppers on my pizza.” Eli grumbles. “...can we get mushrooms too?”

Nico nods, tapping a few things on her phone. 

“Okay, Nozomi? What do you want?” 

“Meat.” Her reply is quick and simple. Eli smiles and Nico shakes her head at the vague answer.

“Okay genius, there’s like seven different meat toppings. Which one?” Nico shows Nozomi the list and she scans it, tapping on the one she wants. Nico turns the phone around and glances over the photo of the pizza they have in the pizza creator.

“So we’ve got bell peppers, mushroom and beef. I’m adding extra cheese and some red onion. Is that good?” 

The other two nod and Nico finishes the rest of the details for the order. The online tracker gives them an estimate of when the delivery will arrive and she smiles, slipping her phone back in her pocket and looking at her new roommates. Nozomi’s gone back to fixing up the kitchen with Eli helping out by placing dishes in the cupboards. They playfully bump hips every now and again and Nico shakes her head at the weird gestures of affection they give one another. 

Nico decides to offer additional support in tidying the room, taking the stacked pots and pans and moving them into a different cupboard. Once the kitchen is mostly done, their dinner arrives and the three of them set up a makeshift table with some boxes. They sit around it, munching on their pizza and talking between bites about what they want to do with the big space.

“Should we get a couch? I feel like our living experience will only improve from having a couch.” Nico suggests, looking at the wall most of their boxes rest against. “We can put it on that wall since we’re throwing the TV on the opposite one.”

“Good idea!” Eli beams, “Nozomi’s table is small, so we’ve still got a lot of space from the dining area and the kitchen too.” 

“Maybe if we get more books we can have a bookshelf?” Nozomi proposes, glancing at the dining room area, “Or maybe we can just use it as spare storage space. Like if we invite the girls over and we need more chairs. We could put them there.”

Nico finishes chewing on the bit of pizza, swallows it and nods.

“That’s not too bad. Actually, maybe it’d be a good spot to keep our laundry rack too.” she contemplates out loud. “Well whatever, we’ve got a lot of time to figure out how to make this place look the best.”

The other two hum in approval as they continue to eat. At one point Nozomi shuffles over to the side of the room, digging through one of her bags excitedly. Nico and Eli watch with curious eyes as she pulls out her camera. Nozomi carefully takes the lens cap off and looks towards them with a broad grin. 

“Picture time~” She grins, moving back towards them. Nico looks at Nozomi incredulously, wondering why picture time is now, of all times.

“Seriously!? Can’t it wait until we’re done eating?!” She asks, watching as Eli puts her half eaten piece down and moves to Nico’s other side.

“Time waits for nobody, Nicocchi~” Nozomi replies sagely, “Now, say cheese~”

She squishes herself against Nico, causing her to push into Eli. Nico’s aware of the way Eli pushes back against her and how her face leans closer to hers. She looks up to the camera just in time as the flash goes off and Nozomi captures the first official group photo of the three of them in their new apartment. Said girl sits up, turning her camera around and looking at the image preview displayed on the small screen. She smiles and turns it towards them, humming contently.

“Look at that. A perfect picture.” She laughs.

Nico examines the photo and to her dismay, Nozomi’s right. Nozomi’s to the left of her, a bright grin slapped on her face while Eli on her right side has that picture perfect closed mouth smile she always has. And her? Well she’s perfect in every photo, but this photo’s lighting and the surprised expression suits her. Even the little ‘o’ shape her mouth is in is perfect. 

“Well, it  _ is _  impossible to take an unflattering photo of me,” Nico reasons, earning a chuckle from her roommates, “This one is probably the best spontaneous picture of me though. Good job Nozomi.” 

“Thank you~” 

They finish up their dinner and Nico and Eli clean up the garbage while Nozomi searches for a deck of playing cards. They decide to spend the rest of the evening playing different card games, Nozomi somehow winning more often than not. Nico and Eli temporarily team up to take her down for a few rounds. By the time two hours have gone by, their exhaustion hits them and Eli suggests bringing out their blankets and camping out in the living room together to end the move in day celebration. Tiredly, Nozomi and Nico push themselves out of their spots on the floor and tidy up the small mess of cards thrown at each other to make a clean spot for all the comforters and pillows. Nico places the poorly made stack on their makeshift box table while Nozomi trudges towards the hall, moving to help Eli grab all their blankets. Nico follows afterward, going to her room and grabbing her own for the massive blanket bed they intend to make.

When she comes back with blankets and pillow in hand, she finds Nozomi’s wrapped herself in one of them and rolled into one corner of the bed space they began to make. Eli stands with one hand holding a blanket and the other pinching the bridge of her nose. Nico snorts and shakes her head, deciding to help Eli out.

“Wow that’s a pretty lumpy blanket.” She says, poking it with her foot. “I guess we’re using it as pillows?”

It takes Eli a moment but she catches on, bringing her hand down from her face and smirking a little.

“That’s exactly what I was going for Nico. You know me well.” Eli gives her a playful wink and Nozomi rolls, peering up at them through her blanket. Nico drops down onto the floor, resting her head on Nozomi and sighing contently.

“Well your idea is great. This might be the best pillow I’ve ever used. So lumpy and warm, you could-” She pauses her speech to give a big, fake yawn and squishing her head into Nozomi more. “Practically fall asleep instantly.”

Nozomi’s muffled laughs can be heard and Eli follows Nico onto the floor, resting her head on  the Nozomi blanket mound as well.

“You’re right. I feel like with just this big lumpy blanket pillow, I might have the best sleep of my life. But there’s one thing missing-” She says with a hint of laughter in her voice. She grabs one of the blankets she held earlier and drapes it over the both of them. “There we go. Now we’ll stay warm and have the best sleep of our lives.”

Nozomi’s laughing so much she’s shaking, but Nico and Eli go along with it some more.

“A massage feature?! Eli, where did you even find this lumpy blanket?!” Now Nico’s laughing along with Nozomi, and Eli can’t help but laugh with them.

“It was a gift! From our lovely friend Nozomi. I have no idea where she went though, she’s really missing out on the experience.” 

Nozomi begins to squirm and rolls herself away from them, letting their heads fall to the floor. Nico and Eli wince from the contact, but continue to laugh. Nozomi pushes herself onto her knees, the blanket still wrapped around her as much as possible. She looks at them and moves the blanket off her mouth so she can speak.

“Really Nicocchi, if you wanted to experience a  _ real _  massage from this blanket, all you had to do was ask.” The area where Nozomi’s hands are moves ever so slightly and Nico pauses for a short moment before laughing harder.

“Oh my god you look so dumb-” She says between wheezes, “Eli- s-stop her, get her out of there!”

Eli’s still on the floor but she does as requested, moving onto her knees and looking at Nozomi eye to eye. She’s still laughing as she begins to unwrap Nozomi, letting the large blanket fall to the floor and freeing the other girl from it’s warm confines.  She laughs again and looks at Nico.

“Can you believe our lumpy blanket pillow was Nozomi this whole time?!” She asks a little too excitedly.

“Honestly, we may have never known until she started talking.” Nico jokes, earning a few more laughs from them.

With Nozomi free from her blanket, the three of them decide to actually get the bed set up this time. They set a few blankets on the ground as a makeshift futon, then set their pillows up in the spots they wanted to sleep in. Eli remembers something and hurriedly scans through one of her personal belonging boxes in her bedroom and returning with a small night light. As she heads off to plug it in, Nico and Nozomi place the final blankets down and look at their creative bedspread. 

Afterwards they head to their furnitureless bedrooms, scanning their clothes boxes for pyjamas. They each change there and begin getting themselves prepared for bed. Nico takes her ribbons out of her hair carefully, reaching into a different box for a brush to brush her hair out. She smiles satisfied and puts her brush down before heading back to the living room.

She’s the second one there after Nozomi, who’s put her hair into one side ponytail. She smiles and waves Nico over, patting the spot beside her. Nico makes a tired sound and doesn’t waste any time in making her way to her spot in the middle (it was unanimously decided because she gets cold easily and will benefit in the center.) She worms her way under the covers and sighs contently as Eli makes her entrance, hair down and blue nightgown on. She flicks the big light on the wall off and revels in the warm glow of her night light as she makes her way to her side of their bed, crawling under her covers and humming happily.

“Goodnight Nicocchi. Goodnight Elichi.” Nozomi says, yawning afterwards and lying back on her pillow.

“Goodnight Nozomi. Night Nico.” Eli replies, pulling her blanket up higher and Nico yawns.

“Night. See you two in the morning.” Nico finishes, closing her eyes and letting her long awaited sleep take her.


	2. Pork Cutlets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico, Eli and Nozomi go grocery shopping together and Nico shows them how to cook a perfect pork cutlet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2!!! Thanks for being so patient folks! I'm uploading this before work so I gotta make this note short and sweet but I will point out every chapter has a food related title because I tried to incorporate food into every part of the story. 
> 
> side note I also apologize for typos or grammatical errors, I've only proof read this part once and there's chances I missed a few things;;

After a week, their apartment is finally in order. The three of them were able to get their beds and finish setting up their rooms, the dining room table is set up in their dining space, and they were even able to get a decent couch for a decent price thanks to Nozomi’s parents. With their apartment finished and the first day of university classes the following day, the girls go on their first grocery shopping trip together. When they reach the store, Nico gets down to business.

“Okay, who’s got the list?” Nico asks, grabbing a basket.

“I do,” Nozomi answers, holding up the slip of paper. “ We’re only picking up some staples and dinner, so I think we should start at the produce.”

Nico and Eli agree and together the three head over to the produce area, scanning through the greens and price checking on what item is better. Nico’s on a roll as she finds the best prices almost instantly, plopping the better products into the basket without a second glance. Nozomi whistles as she crosses out several different items in a row on their list as Nico moves quickly. She and Eli follow Nico through the store as she moves towards the meat freezers, glancing over the different cuts of pork.

“Hm. It’s really cheap right now...” She looks to Nozomi and Eli and nods to herself as if finalizing a decision. She picks up a couple packages of pork and puts it in the basket, knowing exactly what to make for dinner.

“Okay Nozomi, cross meat off the list.” Nozomi does as Nico instructs and hums.

“Looks like all we need now is rice, milk, eggs and… what’s this at the bottom? It looks like it was added and erased?” Nozomi squints her eyes and tries to read the indents left on the paper. Nico waits and notices Eli’s looking rather shifty. Her eyebrows furrow when she purposefully looks away from the two of them.

“I think it says... chocolate?” Nozomi continues with uncertainty. Her gaze follows Nico’s as she looks to Eli and they watch as she awkwardly whistles and ignores their stares.“Elichi, did you think we wouldn’t notice you adding chocolate to the grocery list?”

They watch as Eli’s cheeks tint a light pink.

“I was gunna do it as a joke,”  She confesses with a crooked grin, “But then I thought it was a dumb idea and erased it. I guess I didn’t erase it well enough.”

Nozomi hums in amusement and Nico shakes her head.

“Geeze, and here I thought shopping with you two would spare me the ‘Nico-Nii! Can we get chocolate?! Nico-Nii! Can we get some candy?!’ ” She jests, making her voice higher pitched as she imitates her siblings from past shopping trips. Eli blushes more.

“I-I wasn’t- Nico! Nozomi! it was a joke!!” She’s so flustered she attracts a bit of attention from other shoppers, and Nico and Nozomi share a laugh.

“Sure it was Elichi~” 

Their shopping trip continues as they pick up the rest of the necessities- rice, a carton of eggs, some milk and the rest of the ingredients Nico knows they’ll need for dinner. Thanks to all the bargain hunting, they end up with enough money left over to Eli get the exact thing she hopes for- a chocolate bar for the three of them to share after their meal. She practically glows as she holds two of the grocery bags with a big goofy smile on her lips while Nozomi pays the cashier. She’s just like a little kid who was told they did well on their report card and deserve a treat. The twin tailed girl can’t help but think of her siblings and how well they’d get along if Eli were to babysit them.

They begin to make their way home with Nozomi and Nico each carrying the rest of the grocery bags. Eli fixes her hold on the bags she has so that she and Nozomi can hold hands during the walk home. The shorter girl excitedly thinks about the amount of food they’ll be able to cook for dinner and the amount that will be left over. It’ll all be perfect for the following day’s lunch.

They reach their building and Nozomi pulls her keys out of her pocket, holding open the door for the other two and following them inside. They kick off their shoes and slip on their slippers before heading to the kitchen one by one, placing the bags on the counter. Eli gets to work putting everything away and leaving everything Nico requests on top of the counter. Nico grabs all the pots and pans needed to cook their dinner and Nozomi reaches for her apron hanging on a hook beside the fridge, tying it around her waist and smoothing it down. Nico does the same once she’s done, then reaches into the the draw with their cutlery and grabs a couple large knives.

“Alright Nozomi, I’ll take care of prepping the meat and you can do the salad and rice. Sound good?” Nico asks, grabbing the packages of pork and a red cutting board.

“Sure thing~” Nozomi replies, heading to the sink to wash the produce.  

Eli hovers in the doorway, watching as the two of them work their magic. Nico gives Nozomi different instructions every now and then, telling her what to do with her prepped lettuce and showing her the heat volume the pan with the cooking oil needs to be on. When Nozomi notices her watching from a distance, she sticks her tongue out playfully and gets the blonde to giggle. 

Before Eli knows it, Nico’s showing the both of them how to cook the pork cutlets perfectly, telling them the do’s and don’ts as the breading around them turns golden and crispy. When enough time goes by she pulls the first two out of the oil and rests them on a plate next to the stove top. She leaves Nozomi with the currently cooking cutlets and takes the freshly cooked ones to a different side of the counter, where the rice cooker sits with white rice cooked to perfection. Nico opens it up, grabbing three plates and scooping a serving of rice on each of them.

Nozomi pulls out the second batch of cutlets, letting Nico know before she throws the final two into the cooking oil. Nico moves over quickly, taking only one of the two Nozomi’s finished cooking. She prepares each of them the same way, cutting them into even slices and placing them on the plates with the rice. She moves to the counter space beside the stove where she grabs the salad Nozomi prepped early, evenly placing it on the sides of each plate. She hums satisfied with her work as Nozomi finishes up cooking the last of the pork.

“Here Eli, take these to the table.” Nico says, gesturing to the plated food. “Nozomi, use the pan lid to cover the leftovers for now, and I’ll grab the sauce.” 

Soon enough the three of them are at the table and eyeing the feast before them. Their first home cooked dinner in their shared apartment is a fancy one. They each say their before meal prayer before digging in, Nozomi being the first to voice her thoughts on the food.

“This is soo good!” She practically moans, savouring every bite of the piece of meat in her mouth, “So much better than instant noodles and take out.”

“Mhmm, Nico is a cooking genius.” Eli adds on, taking a bite of her rice with pleasure. 

Nico pats herself on the back for a job well done and smirks triumphantly.

“Of course I am! Nobody can cook better than Nico-Nii can.” She boasts, making the other two chuckle.

“Yes, yes. Nobody’s better than Nico-Nii~” Eli says, giving her a tiny wink.

Nico smiles more and takes a bite of her food. While her cooking is amazing and has the potential to be world famous, she decides maybe part of the reason the food tastes so well is because of the company she gets to enjoy it with. A warm feeling swells in her chest at the thought and she hopes that the two of them don’t see the slight burn of her cheeks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading, commenting and leaving kudos!


	3. Ramen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico and Eli go out for some ramen together after Eli successfully lands a great part time job.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's chapter three! Sorry for the delayed posting, it was a busy weekend.  
> as a disclaimer, auditioning for a voice acting role probably doesn't happen the way I've written it, and I've never actually been to a ramen shop before so I apologize if it's a lot different than how I've written it;; I still hope its enjoyable!  
> This chapter is a lot more NicoEli than NozoNicoEli so I hope you guys like it!

“Congrats on landing the job, Eli.” Nico greets her from outside the auditorium. Eli adjusts her cardigan and gives her a grin.

“Thanks Nico.” She beams at her, a happy skip in her step. “I’m glad I got the part! It’ll be nice to have a bit more money for ourselves and not just our expenses.”

Earlier in the week, there were advertisements posted around campus looking for girls around their age to audition for a commercial. It caught both Nico and Eli’s interest and the two of them decided to head out to audition after class. Nico’s audition was incredible- but not what the agents were looking for. Nico was bitter for only a moment before she remembered her true talents lie within the idol industry, and so she brushed off the audition. Unlike her, the agents were very impressed with Eli and gave her a call back, asking her to come back to the auditorium the following day. Nozomi’s classes weren’t until later in the day so she stayed home while Nico walked with Eli to the theatre, meeting her outside of it after handing in some homework to her professors.

“Hey, are you feeling hungry at all?” Eli asks a little suddenly, putting a hand on her stomach, “I left my lunch back at the apartment and I’m famished. Maybe we can stop somewhere first before going home?”

Her eyes have widened ever so slightly and Nico hates it. She almost says no until her stomach lets out an audible noise and she sighs. Eli’s puppy eyes and her own hunger win this time.

“Yeah, that’s a good idea. Wanna go to the cafeteria?”

“Nah, the food there tastes exactly as it’s priced- too cheap to be good.”

Nico laughs from the witty comment and begins to think of other options.

“There’s that ramen place not too far down the road. The one Rin really likes to visit whenever she’s in this area. I’ve never had it, but if Rin likes it I’m sure it’s good?”

“Sure. We might as well give it a try.” Eli replies.

She adjusts the bag over her shoulder and together the two of them make their way out of the building and onto campus. Nico takes a moment to quickly look up directions to the place, before leading the way once she’s figured out the right way to it. They walk side by side and Eli talks excitedly about the part she got and the finer details of what will happen if the job is a success. If the commercial she’s in ends up boosting sales a lot, the agents said they may call her in to do a couple more jobs in the future. It’s an exciting idea, to have a potential part time job for a little while that can work well between their classes and their study time.

Before long they’ve reached the restaurant. Nico reads the bright red flag advertising what she assumes is the restaurants best special. Not wanting to wait any longer, Nico and Eli enter the ramen shop and the taller of the two lets out a content sigh.

“It smells so good in here. I can’t believe how badly I’m craving this right now.” Nico wonders if that’s true or just Eli’s code for she’s happy it isn’t the instant kind. “If Rin’s only got high ratings on this place, it can only mean we’re going to have a great meal.” Eli adds as an afterthought as she takes a seat at the counter. She pats the empty chair beside her and Nico hops onto it, sitting down next to Eli and placing her purse in between her legs on the chair.

“Afternoon girls!” A waitress greets them with a smile, pulling two cups out and pouring them each a glass of water. “Please let me know if I can be of any assistance, or just wave me over when you’re ready to make your order.”

Nico and Eli thank the girl as they each gaze over the different types of ramen listed in the menu. Nico’s had a firm idea on the kind she’s wanted from the very beginning, but Eli examines each option with care. The shorter girl takes a sip of her water as she watches Eli with the complicated decision of what type of ramen to have for lunch.

“You know, you could always just pick the safe option and get what you normally do.” Nico suggests.

“True, that is always the smart option.” Eli agrees, “But it’s not often we come to places like this, and I bet the udon is delicious..”

Eli hums and frowns as she weighs the options once again and Nico laughs.

“Then get the udon. Nothing’s stopping you but yourself.”

“But what if it doesn’t taste as good as I hope?” Eli sticks her lower lip out in a small pout, reminding Nico somewhat of a dog trying to get what it wants. She bites back a laugh as she pictures Eli with a tail wagging behind her and flattened ears on the top of her head.

“Then just get the kind you like most!” Nico answers for her, a small laugh escaping.

“But the udon..” Eli’s voice trails off and the waitress looks to Nico, wondering if she’s at least ready to place her order.

“Here, you know what, I’ll just help you out.” Nico decides, looking to the waitress. “Give us two of these” She points to the daily special and smiles at her. “We’ve never been here, might as well try the best option you’ve got.”

“A great choice!” The waitress beams, writing down the order before heading towards the chefs further down in the kitchen.

Eli sighs and looks at Nico with a small apologetic smile.

“Sorry for being so indecisive. I can’t help it, everything sounds so good and I’m starving.”

“It’s fine, I learnt a long time ago that you’re hopeless and sometimes need a small push to help.” Nico lightly nudges her with her elbow and Eli laughs, returning the gesture.

“Ha ha. I don’t always, but I appreciate the help every now and again.” She grins towards her friend and Nico almost finds the charming smile too much. She bets that’s all Eli had to do to land the role in the commercial she auditioned for.

She begins to wonder about the small details for said commercial. Eli mentioned there isn’t a lot to say about it in the first place, it’s only reading lines from a certain yuri series and help it gain some more sales, and possibly a good amount of commercial time between different anime series on a couple channels. Nico hadn’t looked into the name of the series, but according to the commercial managers it’s a popular series among high school girls. Knowing that reminds her that Eli would be perfect for a role like that.

“Hey, what are your lines like?” Nico asks, “You’ve been given a script to study, right? Lets see what you’ve got.”

Eli reaches into her bag and pulls out a small book with the name of the series on the cover. Nico memorizes the ‘Chin in Hand Kisses’ title and quirks her eyebrow, wondering why the heck someone would call their series chin in hand kisses of all things. Eli flips it open to the first of her lines and looks to Nico.

“So my character is named Haruka. She’s the main love interest with the protagonist. The lines they want said are from various different parts of the first volume so if they sound like they’re in a weird order, that’s probably why.”

Eli clears her throat and Nico adjusts the position on her chair. She leans in slightly and watches as Eli’s facial expression changes from the slightly excited expression she’s used to into a handsome, sultry stare. Nico’s lips form a tight line as Eli gives her a charming smirk, looking down to her lines and reading them in a deeper voice, similar to the pitch she’s used in various different muse songs. The lines roll smoothly off of her tongue and Nico listens intently as Eli speaks to her completely in character.

Her mind wanders as Eli reads out the lines. Since when has Eli been this… charming? There’s always been this beautiful aura to Eli- Nico’s always hated to admit how hot she is, especially during Bibi performances. Eli’s always dazzling, no matter what situation and no matter which song. Nico remembers marveling how perfect she looked in the lights of the stage and how her steps were always correct. It never failed to make the fans cheer them on loudly. The more she thinks about it, the more infuriating it is that Nico can’t find a point in time where Eli hasn’t been charming. But the way she stares at her with that darkened gaze and her tone of voice as she speaks- it’s like a whole different level of charm that Nico isn’t quite used to.

Her train of thought is lost the moment Eli leans in, waving a hand in front of Nico’s face to try and get her attention. Nico recoils and almost shouts from surprise as her eyes widen in alarm.  Her heart begins to race while Eli’s lips twitch as she tries to hide her smile.

“You alright Nico?” Eli asks amused.

“O-of course! I wasn’t spacing or anything!” She retorts, her cheeks tinting red.

“Sure you weren’t.” Eli almost laughs, looking back to her script, “Was it really that boring though? I swear I thought I saw your eyes glaze over.”

Nico feels almost as if she’s been smacked in the face. She quickly reassures Eli that what she thinks isn’t the case.

“Are you kidding? It’s more like that part was made for you.” she exclaims, throwing her hands in the air excitedly. “You sound amazing! It reminds me of the way you deepen your voice in our old songs, you know? So I got a little lost in the thoughts is all.”

It’s not like it’s a complete lie, Nico thinks. Eli’s eyes scrunch up in a that smiling eye way and Nico knows she’s made up for spacing out. She returns the smile and ignores the fuzzy feeling she gets from the moment of happiness.

It isn’t long before their food arrives and the both of them dig in without another word. They make very little small talk as they enjoy their meal. Nico has to agree with their junior- this is definitely the best ramen she’s ever had. She makes a mental note to text Rin later and tell her how she’s right. She glances from the corner of her eye to find Eli hanging over her bowl, making sure the noodles in her mouth don’t drop. She almost laughs from how different their every day Eli is compared to the character she was in only moments before.

When lunch is over and their food paid for, they begin making the journey back to their apartment. They walk close together, their hands brushing against one another’s every so often. Nico knows it’s unintentional, but the way they always hit ever so slightly makes her tempted to just grab onto Eli’s hand for the rest of the walk home. She sticks her hands in her pockets, almost frowning from the idea and ignoring how she misses the slight touches of the other girl’s hand.

They soon make it back to the apartment and Eli pulls out her keys, unlocking the door. The muffled sound of music can be heard from the other side of the door and it only gets louder when Eli pushes it open and steps inside. Nico follows and quirks her eyebrow, ready to shout a greeting to Nozomi.

“Hey Nozomi, we’re-”

Nozomi’s stopped herself mid dancing and is staring directly at the two of them as the music continues in the background. She’s in a pose that’s almost like a lunge, one hand holding up a duster and the other at her side. Strands of hair fall out of her bandana and her lips are closed in a tight and firm line. Eli and Nico make direct eye contact with her as the songs funky music pauses and Nozomi says the line with the person singing.

“P-Pen pineapple apple pen.”

Nico and Eli look to each other before exiting the apartment. Eli locks the door and the two of them walk back down the hallway. They say nothing as they reach the stairs, pretending that everything they just saw didn’t actually happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can't believe Nozomi just sings dumb songs to herself as she cleans. What a nerd.
> 
> Thanks for reading and leaving kudos and/or comments!


	4. Potato Chips

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nozomi and Nico spend the night studying and eating snacks, but decide to have a short break. During this time, Nozomi realizes theres something wrong with the arrangement of photos on their wall, and they take time to figure out what it is exactly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 4 is here! thanks for being patient guys! There’s two more parts left, and the next one might be a bit late because I have yet to edit it and part of it still needs to be finished, but I’ll do my best!
> 
> Just like how last chapter was NicoEli focused, this one has a bit more NozoNico than NozoNicoEli. I hope you guys enjoy it anyway c’:

The sound of potato chips crunch as Nico munches on them disgruntledly. She stares at the textbook in front of her and rereads the same passage she’s been focused on for the last five minutes. She wipes the crumbs off her fingers and groans, putting her face down into her book. 

“Having trouble?” Nozomi asks with mild amusement as she writes in the notebook in front of her.

“Yes” Comes the muffled reply. Nico brings her face up and looks at the girl studying across from her. “I should never have taken this course. Why is this much English knowledge required?! It’s not like I’m aiming to work internationally!”

“It’s a mystery, Nicocchi.” Nozomi answers cryptically and Nico groans.

“I don’t want to study anymore. I can’t even retain this information, I’ve read the same paragraph like ten times now and all I know is Hibiki walks a dog at the beginning of it and then the rest is lost on me.”

“Sounds like you need a small break.” Nozomi decides, pushing her books to the side and stretching. “I think I could use one too, my wrist is getting sore from rewriting my notes from the lecture.” Nico looks at Nozomi with a quirked eyebrow and she continues, “My writing can get pretty sloppy when I’m following along with the teacher, so I rewrite them so they’re legible later on. Plus, it helps give you reminders of the things you’ve learnt that day too.”

‘That’s not a bad idea..’ Nico thinks. 

She watches as Nozomi stands up, excusing herself to go to the bathroom quickly. Nico keeps her head on the table and frowns thinking about the amount of English work she still has. She sighs and reaches around carefully, her hand searching for something else on the table. She passes the open chip bag and soon finds it- a half full glass. Carefully, she picks it up and sits herself up, taking a big sip of the peach juice as her eyes glaze over her own notes.

‘Guess I could go over the notes I made instead, maybe that’ll help motivate me to finish this stupid textbook reading.’

She puts her glass down and grabs her pencil, grabbing her notebook and skipping back a couple pages to the start of the day’s notes. She rests her chin on her hand as she lazily rereads her writing and scans it for important details of the day’s lesson. She yawns a bit, already bored of the idea, but studying is important. There’s no way she’ll graduate without doing it.

After a few minutes, Nico realizes Nozomi has yet to come back from the bathroom. She frowns, hating that it distracts her so much from her work. She glances around to see if she’s anywhere near the dining room and finds nothing. She pushes herself out of the chair and moves out to the living room, calling out for Nozomi.

“Oi! Nozomi! Are you coming back?”

She stops once she enters the living room, finding Nozomi staring at the wall behind the couch with a large frown. Her arms are crossed and she tilts her head a little. Nico walks over to her, following her gaze to the wall with a confused stare. She doesn’t ask why Nozomi’s doing what she is- there’s always some weird answer to her out of the ordinary actions.

“Do you feel like there’s something missing from here?” Nozomi asks her, still keeping her eyes on the wall.

Finally understanding what she’s doing, Nico tries to search for something out of place. There’s various different photos hung up on it- Nozomi’s pictures from their u’s performances, a couple different photos of Nozomi and Eli together, as well as scattered photos of her and Eli and her and Nozomi. There’s a couple of Eli’s photos from her ballet days and a picture of her and Alisa and of course there’s Nico’s photos of her with the first years, her siblings, her mom.  Her eyes scan them all trying to find anything off about the display, and then it finally hits her. There’s a ton of photos with them, but none with just the three of them together.

“We don’t have any of the three of us up there,” Nico frowns, “Where’s the picture you have of the three of us at graduation?”

“I like to keep that one on my bedside table.” Nozomi answers, her frown matching Nico’s. “But you’re right. That’s exactly what’s missing.”

“Look, there’s a perfect space right above the couch for another picture too.” Nico points to a bare spot. “Can we fix this now? You’ve got lots of pictures of us together, right?”

Nozomi perks up at the idea and smiles.

“Let’s go check!” She says, heading to her room. Nico follows not far behind her, following her into her shared bedroom with Eli.

Nico takes a good look around the room and finds the graduation photo exactly where Nozomi said she placed it. She smiles a little as she looks at it while Nozomi digs through a bag near the closet. She picks up the frame and looks at the picture. Eli’s excited happy smile, Nozomi’s laughter, and then her. She remembers not being ready for the photo and how Rin got excited being asked to take it.  She can’t recall how she tripped, but she remembers Nozomi catching her and the three of them laughing when they saw the result photo. It’s one of her favourite memories from that day.

Her gaze lingers on her roommates in the photo. Eli’s genuine happiness and excitement, Nozomi’s small wink and the pure bliss on her face. Nico tries to wonder if anything about graduation would have been different had they all been friends together from their very first year. How closer would they have been? Would Nozomi and Eli have become idols with her if they were friends right from day one? It’s something she’s always wondered, but she tries not to think about often. The idea of “what could have been” distracts her from the now, and she’s a lot happier where she is now with the two of them.

“Here we go!” Nozomi says, bringing her camera out. Nico quickly puts the photo down and looks over to her.

“Great! Let’s see what you got!”

They huddle closer together as Nozomi begins to scan through the photos. They pass a few really ridiculous ones from when they were setting up the apartment. Nozomi’s wearing Eli’s bandana in a way where it gives her a ridiculously looking bright blue moustache, while Nico had stolen Nozomi’s bandana and covered her face like a delinquent. Nico almost laughs out loud. They were having way too much fun with it. They pass by a few photos of Nozomi and Eli  from their first date together after moving in. Nico can’t miss the tender loving gaze Eli gives Nozomi in one of the pictures while Nozomi stares at the camera. What a love sick dork.

Nozomi stops scanning the moment she reaches the very first photo taken in the apartment. It’s the picture from their first night. Nico can see her half eaten slice of pizza still in her hands.

“Oh my god, I forgot you took this.” she says, staring at the photo and laughing. “It still looks really good. I don’t know how you can take selfies so well with this camera.”

“Lot’s of practice!” Nozomi laughs and stares at the photo. “This is it. This is one we need to put on the wall.”

They stare at the camera’s screen for a short moment. Nico begins to mentally count the change she has in her wallet, wondering if she has enough to get the photo printed. Nozomi puts the camera on the bed and begins to use her fingers to count, telling Nico she might be doing the exact same thing.

“How much do you have?” Nico asks.

“Excluding grocery funds, I’ve got about 3000 yen I think. Until next Friday anyway.” She replies. “And you?”

“I have 2500. That should be more than enough to print the photo and find a cheap frame, right?”

Nozomi grins brightly and goes back to her camera, pulling out it’s sd card and looking at Nico with sparkling eyes.

“Let’s skip studying and go print this photo while we can.”

Nozomi doesn’t have to say it twice and Nico dashes out of their room and back to the dining room. She grabs her phone and closes up her books before heading to the front door and kicking off her slippers. Nozomi isn’t far behind her, slinging her purse across her shoulder and grabbing her phone. She shoots Eli a quick text telling her that she and Nico stepped out and will be back as soon as possible in case she comes home from work without them there. By the time she’s done, Nico’s waiting with her shoes on and her own purse in hand.

The two of them exit the apartment excitedly and head towards the store with the photo printing booth. While Nozomi gets to printing it, Nico browses the store for a decent frame. There’s very few options. There’s a plain plastic one, a nice solid black frame or the frame meant for a photo with a pet- with little paw prints lining the frame and a couple of dog bones and fish. She examines each frame carefully and learns that out of the three options they have, only the pet themed picture frame can be hung landscape wise. The other two only offer little hanging hooks for the portrait side. Nico stares at the frame for a short moment and turns to Nozomi, who puts the now printed photo into a safe photo pamphlet.

“Nozomi. There’s only one frame that will work for it.” She holds up the decorative frame and Nozomi looks at it before laughing.

“Really? But we have no pets in our photo,” she pauses for a moment and laughs some more, “Well, Elichi can be very much like a puppy sometimes. And you have your moments where you’re pretty catlike.”

Nico’s lips twitch and Nozomi laughs more.

“You’re one to talk!” Nico jabs, “You’re like the fluffy lazy house cat who always finds a way to charm herself out of trouble.”

“Ah… So I’m the perfect house cat then~?” Nozomi teases and Nico sighs.

“I don’t know why I even made the comparison.” She says aloud as Nozomi laughs.

“Really though, if you don’t want the pet frame we can always make a hook for one of the other frames. It shouldn’t be too hard.” Nozomi reasons.

“Good point. I guess the black one would be nice.” Nico decides, then gazes at the prices of each frame. Her eyes widen when she see’s the price for the frame she likes most “Oh my god, this much for a small frame?! What the hell?!”

“Hm. I’m not entirely willing to pay that much either.” Nozomi glances at the price for the plastic frame, “and this one’s just poor quality. It isn’t worth the price you have to pay for it.”

Begrudgingly, Nico takes a look at the price sticker on the pet themed picture frame. Covering the first sticking is a reduced price, almost to half of what the first picture frame was. Nico wonders if they absolutely need to have the picture frame now, but she knows that the moment they reach the apartment, they’re going to want to hang the photo up right away. She sighs and pushes the frame towards Nozomi.

Nozomi’s stifling her giggles throughout the whole time Nico’s at the cash register buying the frame.

When they arrive back home, Eli’s there and welcoming them with a tired smile. Nozomi leans in and plants a small kiss on her lips, which Eli lightly returns. Nico places her feet in her slippers and makes her way to the living room, missing how Eli glances away from Nozomi and the small uncertain gaze Nozomi wears. She places the bag on the coffee table and pulls out the frame, ripping off the price stickers and opening it up to pull out the stock photo inside it.

Nozomi and Eli don’t take long to return. Nozomi brings the printed photo over and hands it to Nico, the small smile on her face quickly growing. Eli watches with mild curiosity as Nico puts the backing on the frame and turns it around to show them the end result. Eli’s expression brightens as she stares at the photo, only to become severely confused when she see’s the frame decorations.

“Why is it-”

“Don’t ask.” Nico interrupts her before heading to the kitchen to find the mini tool box gifted to them by her mother. She grabs a hammer and a nail and joins the other two again, stepping onto the couch with the picture frame in hand.

With Nozomi guiding her towards the perfect spot, Nico hits the nail into the wall just enough, then begins to carefully hang up the picture. She makes sure it’s not off balance in any way before hopping off of the couch and standing in between the other two. The three of them stare at the new photo addition to their living room wall and both Nico and Nozomi nod.

“Perfect.” They voice at the same time. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, commenting and leaving kudos!


	5. Wcdonalds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico goes out with the MakiRinPana trio for a quick lunch date. Thanks to a comment from Rin, Nico realizes she has much bigger feelings for her roommates than she thought. Knowing she can't act on them, Nico pushes them down and returns home, only to learn there's something going on between Nozomi and Eli that she's being left in the dark with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello yes im fashionably late with this chapter but!! it's finally here!! Thank you to IcarusWings87 for all the help with the spontaneous betaing ;;w;;. I apologize if there are missed typos or tenses, things like that!
> 
> Next couple updates will be this week, since both parts of the ending are done!  
> Please look forward to it as the story reaches its climax!!

Nico goes over her list of the day’s events excitedly. It’s the first time she’s gotten up at eight am and been fully functional in a while, but she can’t help it. She hasn’t seen the now second years since the day before the move, and she’s been dying to see how her club is doing with Hanayo as it’s president. It isn’t for another few hours, but she excitedly moves around the kitchen as she finishes putting away the breakfast dishes.

“My my, Nicocchi looks pretty excited about her day out.” Nozomi grins, leaning against the kitchen doorway. “Do you have any big plans with them?”

“We’re probably just going to get some lunch. The weather is supposed to be rainy, so shopping is out of the question.” Nico replies, placing some cups into the cupboard. “What about you? You and Eli got anything planned for the day?”

“Yeah, we’ll probably be heading out the same time you do.” Nozomi answers, avoiding eye contact with Nico. “We’re going to go to the cafe for some parfaits.”

“Ah, a classic date between you two.” Nico laughs, missing the way Nozomi’s smile wavers.

The hours go by fast and Nico finishes the final touches on her make up, grinning at her adorable reflection in the bathroom mirror. She fixes the bright red ribbons in her hair and flattens down her skirt before exiting the bathroom, humming the tune of Nico puri as she walks down the hallway. She checks the time on her phone and peeks into the living room, looking over to Eli and Nozomi, who sit next to each other on the couch. Unlike they usually do, there’s a small space between them as they talk with each other.

“Hey, I’m gunna head out now.” Nico announces, “When do you guys think you’ll be back?” 

“We’ll probably be a couple of hours,” Eli replies, turning to face her and giving her a smile. “Have fun with the girls.”

“Thanks!” Nico grins, “You guys have fun on your date!”

Nico watches Eli’s expression change for a quick moment before she covers it up with that charming smile of hers. She briefly wonders what it may have been about, but decides to push the thought away and head out to meet the former u’s first years. She shuts the door behind her, locks it and heads toward the meeting place she decided on with the trio.

When she makes it to the Wcdonalds, she finds she’s the last one to arrive. Maki, Rin and  Hanayo wait outside dressed in cute casual outfits and Nico smiles brightly. Hanayo’s hair has grown longer and her glasses are on. Maki’s not too different, her hair cut being the same as it always is. It’s possible she’s grown taller, and Nico almost frowns at the thought, but her face definitely looks more mature. Rin’s grown as well, but her face still holds it’s cute roundish charm and cat like grin. Nico finds it’s hard to be upset Rin’s gotten taller as she waves over to her excitedly and shouts her name loudly.

“NICO-CHAN!” She immediately pounces on the older girl, wrapping her arms tightly around her. “WE MISSED YOU!”

Nico laughs and returns the hug.

“Of course you did!” She jokes, pulling herself away from her and accepting a hug from Hanayo next. “I missed you guys too. It’s been a while.”

She pulls away from Hanayo and her and Maki stare at each other for a moment. Nico’s eyebrow quirks and she opens her arms, smirking a little as Maki gets a tiny embarrassed blush before leaning in and hugging Nico as well. Hanayo and Rin giggle and Nico pats her back.

“There there, I missed you too Maki-chan~ No need to be embarrassed~” She laughs and Maki instantly pulls away. 

They walk inside together and Nico asks everyone how Otonokizaka is and what the idol research club is up to these days. Hanayo talks about all the new members they have and all the fun warm up activities they do. Alisa and Yukiho have started their own group and they’re doing great- Maki helps their composer out every now and again and they’ll be performing their first song live at the Otonokizaka open house. They all pause their story telling to place their orders, then find themselves a table to sit at.

“Leading dance practice is a lot of fun!” Rin says excitedly as they all sit down. “The new girls are really enthusiastic. Some have a hard time keeping up, but they’re trying really hard and they show up on time for practice!”

“Even Honoka-chan has been more on time since Yukiho-chan’s joined the group.” Hanayo points out with a tiny giggle. Nico laughs imagining Honoka’s little sister dragging her up the stairs to the shrine and scolding her for sleeping in on a day with morning practice.

“That sounds like them.” Nico says with a grin.

“What’s living with Nozomi-chan and Eli-chan like?” Rin suddenly asks, taking a sip of her drink and looking at Nico with curious eyes. “Your texts always make it seem like so much fun. Do you guys stay up eating junk food a lot? How do you even get any studying done?!” 

“No, we don’t!” Nico laughs. “We seriously have a ton of fun- every day is a blast, but staying up when we have morning classes is literally the worst. I did it once. Never again. And studying? Easy peasy. The real question is when aren’t we studying.”

“I’m sure it wasn’t that bad.” Maki comments, taking a sip of her coffee. 

“You’re just saying that because you’ve always been able to get up at ungodly times.” Nico sneers and Rin grins.

“Maki-chan sleeping in? It’s more likely than you think.”

Both she and Nico laugh really hard and Maki almost leaves. Hanayo gives her a sympathetic smile and she looks away from the three of them with bright red cheeks. When their laughter dies down, Rin wipes away a tear from her eye and grins at Nico.

“Seriously though. Is it everything that you expected?” She asks.

Nico takes a moment to think about it. She sips her drink and thinks about all the time spent together with the other two and the fun they have. She grins a bit and puts her cup down as she answers.

“It’s pretty great actually. It’s definitely not what I expected it to be like- it’s so much more than that.” 

Hanayo and Rin watch her with curious stares. Maki glances back to them as the topic of conversation changes and Nico smiles to herself. It’s hard to believe almost three months have gone by already, it feels like such a short amount of time has passed- like they only moved into their apartment days before.

“We have a pretty great thing going on.” Nico continues, her smile growing. “We try to do everything together. Me and Nozomi usually do the cooking, but Eli likes to swap spots with Nozomi every now and then. We all have our own chores around the place and we try to get them done on the weekend so that we don’t have to stress out about it during school days. Studying is boring as it always is, but it’s a lot more fun doing homework with them every night than on my own. We also like to do all the grocery shopping together because it’s easier to pick up everything we need with everyone there.”

She laughs and starts to move off topic, talking about their first shopping trip and how Eli tried to sneak chocolate onto their list of things needed. Hanayo and Rin giggle while Maki cracks a tiny smile, able to picture Eli’s face perfectly. Nico goes on to talk all about Eli and the things she’s been able to accomplish living with them, her successful commercial audition, the way she does her best to brave the dark hallways in the middle of the night if she wakes up, how she always works hard to make sure her homework is done with enough time to spend with her and Nozomi. 

It doesn’t even stop there. Nico continues to talk about everything Nozomi’s done too- the way she couldn’t stop laughing during the pineapple on pizza issue (which, as it turns out, is a mutually disliked topic between her juniors. She sheds a single proud tear at the news.) She talks about how much happier Nozomi is coming home with the two of them, and the way she can never stop grinning. Nozomi’s almost always happy and it’s hard to feel unhappy when you see her smiling at you the way she does.

Nico’s heart flutters at the image of her roommates smiling at her. Her cheeks heat up a little and she apologizes for getting off track. She can feel the gazes of the younger girls on her and she notices the soft expression Hanayo looks at her with. Rin on the other hand, has wide eyes and a tiny grin while Maki watches on, with a look similar to that of someone who knows something she doesn’t. Nico’s smile falters a little as she grabs a few fries.

“Why are you guys staring at me like that?” she asks, throwing them into her mouth and chewing them.

“You sound like you have giant crushes on them, nya.” Rin says bluntly. “You look so in love, it’s kinda cute.”

Nico chokes. She swallows the fries and coughs like crazy, smacking her chest with an open palm and trying her best to clear the airway. Maki glares towards Rin who only shrugs sheepishly as Hanayo hands Nico her drink. Said girl takes a huge sip, swallowing it all down in one gulp and breathing heavily.

“W-what?!” She gasps is a raspy voice. 

“I said it sounds like you have giant crushes on them?” Rin repeats in an uncertain voice, glancing to Hanayo and Maki for a bit of help.

“Rin-chan, I-I’m sure that isn’t the case for Nico-chan.” Hanayo says, glancing uncertainly between her and Nico.

“Ehh? But she’s acting exactly like Honoka-chan when she talks about Umi-chan and Kotori-chan!” Rin counters. Maki watches Nico with a careful gaze as she doesn’t speak, taking in what Rin said. 

That couldn’t be true, could it? There’s no way. Does she love them? Of course, they’re her best friends and they’ve done a lot for her. It’s exactly like that. The love between three really great friends who are the best of pals. They’re a lot more like family, when Nico thinks about it. Maybe the love she shares for them is exactly like that.

As her mind wanders contemplating this, her heartbeat increases at the idea of it being something more. The thoughts of Nozomi and Eli greeting her with a good morning kiss is there. Holding hands with them on the way to school, taking breaks during studying to make out just because they can, stealing bites of each other’s food. All these things start clouding her thoughts and she blushes, unable to stop thinking about what her life could be if she were dating her roommates.

“Sorry, be right back, I just gotta go to the bathroom.” Nico says, pushing herself out of her chair and heading towards them. Rin moves to follow but Maki grabs her arm and shakes her head, letting Nico go off by herself.  

She enters the bathroom and moves towards the sinks, looking at her reflection in the mirror. How long has she been feeling this way? When did she start thinking about these things with them? Nico expected her first love out of highschool to be with some hot stranger she met at school, and they’d hit it off almost immediately and have some incredible date that would lead to non-stop texting throughout the rest of the night.

Of course, things never really work out the way Nico imagines them. Of course she’d feel things like this for the two she can never have it with. They’re already with each other, and they’re happy that way. Nico’s never seen a happier couple. She sighs to herself and leans against the countertop, wondering what to do with these newly discovered feelings.

She concludes there’s nothing she can do. If she acts on her feelings, she might lose them and that’s something she doesn’t want. She spent too many days wishing she had friends like them during her lonelier days at Otonokizaka, and they’ve come so far since then. Nico loves living with them and loves the life they have right now- even if they’re not the richest people around and schoolwork can really stress them out. They’re always there for each other and supporting one another and Nico loves everything about it. Telling them her feelings could jeopardize the relationship they all worked so hard to have with one another, and she doesn’t want to cause a rift between them all.

She takes one look at her reflection and with a heavy heart, she decides to keep her feelings hidden from them. She’ll have to try and convincingly lie to her friends, but that’s something she can live with. She composes herself and exits the bathroom, going back to the trio that waits for her and apologizing for leaving the way she did.

The other three don’t bring up what happened and Nico’s grateful. The excited and happy atmosphere is back and they spend the rest of their lunch having fun swapping stories and talking about the latest goings ons with one another. Once they’re all finished, they empty their trays into the trash and linger just outside the restaurant, talking a bit more before saying their goodbyes. They promise to see each other again sooner rather than later, and Nico waves to the three of them as they walk the opposite way of her.

When she gets back to the apartment she unlocks the door and steps inside. She can hear the sounds of running water in the bathroom and the sounds of someone tidying putting away the dishes in the kitchen. She kicks off her shoes calls out tiredly to her roommates.

“I’m home..!” 

“Welcome back..!” Comes the answer from the kitchen, where Nozomi is. She enters and watches as Nozomi puts her clean pig kettle in its place on the back burner of the stove. She smiles slightly when Nozomi looks at her.

“How are the girls?” Nozomi asks with a small smile. There’s something about it that seems off. Nico decides to pay no mind to it and replies.

“Good. They seem to be doing well.”

Nozomi gives another smile at that. Nico looks into the fridge and grabs the water pitcher. She pulls a glass out of the cupboard and places it on the counter.

“How was your date with Eli?” Nico asks, not noticing how Nozomi tenses for a brief moment.

"Good,” she says, “We had a nice time. Alisa called at the end of it and Eli will probably be spending the night back home with her.”

“Oh, really?” This is news to Nico. She holds the pitcher of water and looks at Nozomi with concern. “Is everything okay?”

Nozomi nods.

“Don’t worry, they’re fine. Elichi was talking about how she wanted to see Alisa soon and an opportunity came up for her to do that tonight.” She gives that same smile and Nico has to wonder if everything really is okay.

She puts the water away and sips her glass tentatively, wondering if she might be overthinking things. She leans against the counter and watches Nozomi as she places the last of the clean dishes in the places they belong. It’s odd, in a way. Normally Nozomi is very bubbly and playful after dates. She talks about how yummy the parfait was and sometimes she shares little details of what she and Eli talked about. But today she’s quiet and keeping to herself. Something must have happened, but Nico’s not sure if she should pry or not.

The sound of the bathroom door opening from down the hall catches her attention and she watches as Eli moves from it to her bedroom, probably to grab the things she needs for her night with Alisa. She appears again not a moment later, her bag in hand and a different outfit than before on. She’s distracted by her phone as she approaches the kitchen.

“I’m gunna be heading out soon,” she looks up and pauses, surprised to see Nico and suddenly her expression becomes a lot brighter. “Ah, Nico! Did you just get back?”

“More or less.” Nico says, putting her water down. “Nozomi says you’re heading to Alisa’s for the night?” Eli nods and pockets her phone.

“Yeah, it’s been a while. It’s a little spontaneous but I’ll be back tomorrow.” Eli gives her a tiny smile similar to Nozomi’s from earlier and Nico’s eyes narrow slightly. There’s definitely something that isn’t being said.

“Well, I hope you have a good time.” Nico says, giving her a small smile. “Don’t miss us too much.”

Eli laughs and affectionately nudges Nico.

“I’ll try my hardest not to think about you when I’m alone in bed tonight,” She says, pausing for a moment. “Y-you both, that is.”

Eli distracts herself with something else and Nico’s eyebrows shoot up a little. She turns to Nozomi, who watches her with a soft gaze. Eli gives her a tiny smile and Nozomi returns it, but they don’t feel sincere. Nico feels as if she’s watching a drama and it’s at a scene where the love interests are dancing around each others feet. Nico realizes whatever’s being hidden, it’s not only from her, but there’s something they’re hiding from each other. She frowns a little as she observes them some more and picks up her glass, pretending to be focused on it.

There’s a ring from Eli’s phone and she reaches into her pocket, checking the message.

“Alright, Alisa is here, so I’m heading out now.” Eli says, putting her phone in her pocket. 

“Have a good night, Elichi.” Nozomi says.

Normally, this would be where Nozomi would follow Eli to the door and give her a small goodbye kiss to bid her farewell. Instead, Eli leans forward and gives the shortest of pecks to Nozomi’s lips. Nozomi doesn’t get the chance to return it as Ei pulls away and gives a small wave to Nico. Nico returns it and watches as she heads to the door, slipping her shoes on and exiting the apartment hastily.  

Nico stares at the door for a moment before frowning.

“What the heck was that?!” She inquires, looking to Nozomi with a concerned gaze. Immediately noticing the mood, she watches as Nozomi shrugs towards her and exits the kitchen, not wanting to talk about it anymore. Nico’s eyes narrow and she follows.

“Hey,” Nico starts, watching as Nozomi sits down on the couch. There’s clearly a lot on her mind, and Nico suspects if she asks about it again, Nozomi will try to dodge the question. Instead, she decides to cheer her up in the best way she can think of. “Since Eli won’t be around tonight, what do you wanna do? We’ll have the whole apartment to ourselves, might as well do something carefree and reckless”

Nozomi chuckles and leans back, thinking about it. 

“Hmm.. I do have to study. Maybe I should skip studying for the night and see what happens to my grades.” She tries to sound cheeky but instead it sounds like an unenthusiastic and possibly sarcastic comment. Nico frowns a little and moves towards the couch, plopping herself down on the cushion next to Nozomi.

“Look,” she says, “I can tell you’ve got stuff on your mind. I’m not gunna bug you about it- it’s not my business. But if you need anyone to talk to, you know I’m here, right?”

Nozomi sighs and looks up at the ceiling. She’s quiet for a minute and Nico leans herself back into the couch, staring at the tv set across from them. It’s off and she can see their reflection in its screen. She watches as Nozomi begins to lean towards her and soon she can feel her weight on her side and the way her head rests comfortably on top of hers. Nico glances away from the tv screen to her and watches as she sighs.

“Thanks Nicocchi. I’m fine, I just-” She stops for a moment, contemplating how to continue her sentence. She closes her eyes and mumbles. “I don’t really know. I don’t know what I’m feeling right now.”

They’re quiet for a moment and Nico reaches up, looping her arm awkwardly with Nozomi’s.

“That’s fine.” She states. “Feelings are complicated stuff. It’s okay if you don’t know.”

Nico can feel Nozomi lift her head off of her and she turns to meet her gaze. Her eyes are so focused and her stare is so intense and so- piercing. She’s examining Nico with those vibrant green eyes of hers and Nico wonders if she’s possibly said the wrong thing. As that thought passes, a smile appears on Nozomi’s face and unlike the smiles she shared with Eli earlier- this one feels genuine. The mood itself feels happier and the chubbier girl leans back into the couch.

“What did the world do to deserve such an amazing girl like you, Nicocchi~?” She says it in a teasing voice, but there’s a small hint of something else there- adoration, perhaps? Nico smirks a little and shrugs.

“Honestly, who knows really. The gods must have smiled upon me the day I was born and said- ‘This is her! The most talented and beautiful girl in the world! She will bring nothing but happiness wherever she goes and whoever is blessed to be her best friends will experience nothing but good things!’” Nico’s voice deepens as she imitates some unknown god and Nozomi snorts, laughing at the terrible voice change.

“It’s the only logical explanation!” Nozomi chortles and Nico chuckles with her. 

When they’re finished laughing, they decide to spend the night binge watching a show instead of doing anything productive. Nico pulls out one of her favourite dvd sets- unrelated to idols, surprisingly- and she and Nozomi make themselves comfortable on the couch as they sit through half the season. Nozomi’s fallen asleep on the couch next to her, her head resting next to her thigh. Nico drifts in and out of sleep between episodes. When she wakes up after the third time nodding off, she looks at the clock that reads quarter to twelve and she gently nudges Nozomi.

“Hey, Nozomi,” Nozomi stirs from Nico’s voice and she frowns a little.

“Hmm?” She turns her head a little.

“It’s almost midnight. Let’s go to bed.” 

Nozomi’s eyes open and she looks up tiredly to Nico. She opens her mouth to ask something, before closing it. Nico quirks her eyebrow as she pushes herself up off the cushions.

“I was gunna ask where Elichi was, but then I remembered she’s at Alisa’s.” Nozomi says, knowing Nico might ask.

She pushes herself up from the couch and stretches, cracking her back a little and humming in satisfaction as her joints pop along with it. She makes her way out of the living room and down the hall and Nico frowns a bit. She doesn’t look upset, but it still worries her. She follows, deciding to get herself ready for bed along with Nozomi.

A quick change of clothes and teeth brushing later and Nico’s ready for bed. Her hair’s out and her covers are pulled back and she looks at the plush mattress with longing- but something’s missing. Her bedtime ritual doesn’t feel right. She walks towards Nozomi’s room and glances inside, finding her sitting on the bed looking at her phone. She knocks on the door and to grab her attention, and she waves a bit when Nozomi looks up. She opens her mouth to say good night, but asks a question instead.

“What are you up to?” 

“I was just about to text Elichi.” Nozomi answers. “Before we moved in, Elichi and I usually would text each other before bed. It feels a little weird not saying good night to her now, you know? But it’s past eleven, so she’s probably already asleep.”

Nico smiles and walks over.

“Might as well find out.” She takes Nozomi’s phone from her and presses Eli’s contact number. Nozomi’s eyes widen curiously as Nico taps it again and begins to call Eli.

“Eh?! You’re calling her?!” Nozomi hisses, reaching for her phone. Nico quickly puts it on speakerphone and holds it away from Nozomi’s hands.

“We still have to say good night! It’s worth waking her u-” The ring sound stops and in place of it there’s an alarmed voice.

“Nozomi?! Nozomi is everything okay?!” She sounds wide awake and scared and Nico almost laughs.

“Hey Eli!” She says, still leaning away from Nozomi. “It’s Nico! Here with Nozomi. Got a minute?”

There’s a relieved sigh and Eli’s voice goes from a panicked whisper to a soft mumble.

“Of course. Are you two okay?” She asks, being polite. Nico brings the phone down once Nozomi’s stopped trying to reach for it.

“We are,” Nico answers, “We ended up staying up late watching stuff, then we were getting ready for bed and we wanted to say good night.”

She can practically hear the smile growing on Eli’s face.

“You called me just to say goodnight?” she teases.

“Didn’t I already say that?” Nico counters as Nozomi giggles quietly in the background. They can hear Eli’s soft chuckles from the other end and she hums. “Anyway, night Eli. We’ll see you tomorrow, right?”

“Mhm,” Eli says tiredly, “I’ll be home by lunch time. Good night Nico, sleep well.”

Nico smiles a little and there’s a brief moment of quiet before Nozomi speaks.

“Good night Elichi,” She pauses, worrying her lip gently between her teeth before speaking again. “I love ya.”

There’s a beat of silence. Nico feels that gentle pang gnawing at her chest and glances away, as if she were being polite and not paying attention to the conversation. It’s a painful reminder of the reason why she can’t tell the two of them her own feelings. But seeing Nozomi look so nervous about saying it is odd. Nozomi isn’t the type to be shy about telling Eli she loves her.

So why is it different now?

“I love you too, Nozomi.” Eli says in a hushed voice. “Sleep well.”

Nico furrows her brows a little. Eli’s never sounded so stiff. Nico wonders if she should give them a moment, but Nozomi reaches into her hand and takes her phone back. She holds it closer to herself and wears a sad smile on her face.

“You too Elichi.”

It isn’t long before a call ending sound is heard and Nozomi places her phone face down on the bed. She pulls one of her twintails to her front and begins running her hands through it as she loses herself to her thoughts. Nico hates the anxious gaze she wears as she spaces out.

She doesn’t say anything as she reaches out and grabs one of Nozomi’s hands to bring her back to reality. She squeezes it once, reminding the older girl she’s here and that she isn’t alone. Nozomi looks to Nico with uncertainty- pondering if she should speak up about whatever it is that’s bothering her. Nico tries to encourage her by giving her a small smile. 

Nozomi opens her mouth and closes it again, shaking her head and instead gripping Nico’s hand. Nico falters and frowns, not knowing what else to do except wrap her arms around Nozomi. She leans against her and feels her arms embrace her as well and Nico closes her eyes, resting her head on top of Nozomi’s.

Nico ends up spending the night there in Nozomi’s room, holding her until they both fall asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and leaving comments and kudos!


	6. Water

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico overhears part of a conversation she really shouldn't have.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An update already? Heck yes!  
> To be fair it's a very short update, and is an important scene that didn't fit into the previous or final chapter.  
> Please enjoy it :')!

A few days pass since then and Nico stirs in her bed, unable to get to sleep. The memory of Rin’s teasing has caused her nothing but restless nights. Adding the sudden tension between Nozomi and Eli, Nico’s constantly aware of the overall mood of the apartment no matter what room she’s in. She stares blankly up at the ceiling, wondering if her eight thirty am class is really worth attending the next day. She throws her covers off of her and decides maybe a glass of water will help get her back to sleep. Her throat is pretty dry right now. She sets her feet on the floor, shoving them into her slippers before exiting her room.

She drinks a full glass and brings another with her down the hall, hoping that if she wakes up again throughout the night she won’t need to exit her room again for the beverage. Room temperature water always quenches her thirst better than cold does anyway. She walks slowly down the hallway, reaching her room and preparing herself to open the door when the sound of muffled sobs reaches her ears. She frowns, trying to focus on the sound and locate where it’s coming from.

Holding onto her glass carefully, Nico creeps a couple steps down the hallway until she’s just outside Nozomi and Eli’s bedroom. The sound of crying has gotten louder and Nico can make out Nozomi’s voice faintly. Her eyes widen and she puts her hand on the doorknob, ready to shove open the door and interrupt until Nozomi speaks in a clear voice.

“How are we going to tell Nicocchi?”

Nico pales, pulling her hand away at the sound of her name. She knows this is where she should walk away- this definitely is not a conversation she’s meant to hear. She tries to will herself away but her legs don’t budge. She’s frozen.

“We’ll figure it out. We can check out different places online and then we’ll go from there, okay?” Eli’s voice is gentle and reassuring. Nico’s chest begins to hurt. She uses her free hand to cover it and her legs finally move as she pushes herself back to her room. She stumbles inside, leaving her door ajar and placing the full glass of water on top of her dresser. She doesn’t realize she’s reached the bed until she falls on top of it, face first into the covers.

How are they going to tell her what? The tension? The awkward conversations between the two of them? Nico scours her brain for every moment between Nozomi and Eli in the last few months, trying to figure out when it all started or what may have caused it. The more she lingers on it, the more she realizes that in all this time they’ve spent together, she’s almost always been there. The walks to school, the study time, cooking, everything they did was usually all three of them, with the occasional time where either Nozomi or Eli couldn’t make it.

A worry seed begins to form as Nico realizes that maybe the reason they are having this discussion is because of what little time together they have as girlfriends. Nico remembers a comment Nozomi made before the move, saying they’ll tone down pda if it’s too much, but Nico hasn’t been bothered by any of it so far. It as all little things- short kisses, hand holding, nothing that she can even say bugs her. She can’t even think of any moments where she’s heard them through the walls or anything. Either they’re very respectful roommates, or they never do any adult activities at all.

Nico shakes her head, not wanting to linger on those thoughts for too long. She grips onto her covers as she realizes that it’s possible the reason Eli spent the night out of their apartment is because she and Nozomi were fighting. It makes complete sense and when she thinks about it- Nico never did learn why the end of their good night call was so awkward.

She grabs her phone, opening up her contacts and searching for a specific one, hoping that maybe talking to her in the morning might help. She opens a conversation with Maki, shooting her a short text before putting her phone back on her table. Soon after she shuffles her way under the blanket again, looking up to the ceiling and making a decision. If whatever is going on between the two of them involves her being around too much, maybe it’s better that she find a new place or move back home with her family. The thought itself causes a horrible pain in her chest and she rolls onto her side, curling into a fetal position and closing her eyes tightly. If it’s what Nozomi and Eli want, Nico will accept it and do what she has to.

She falls asleep with that thought in mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :') Only slightly sorry about these awkward third years.   
> Thank you for reading, leaving kudos and commenting!


	7. Japanese sweets & Tea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a nice, relaxing bath, Nico joins Nozomi and Eli in their living room to enjoy some snacks from Honoka's family business. Unfortunately for her, Nozomi and Eli have other ideas and she finally learns the truth behind the awkward tension between the two of them and the reasons behind it all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is! Earlier than expected because this is the only time I'll have to upload it before Sunday (and I really didn't want to leave you all hanging with that too long;; )  
> :') I hope you guys like the end result, and I hope you guys forgive me for that rude cliffhanger I left last update.  
> Please ignore any messed up tenses or typos, I did my best to get them all but there may be things I missed ;w;

A week’s passed since then and her conversation with Maki went as she expected it to go. She admitted maybe Rin had been right with her statement that day at WcDonalds, but there’s no way she can act on them. She told the younger girl everything, about Nozomi and Eli’s awkward behaviour, the tension build up in the apartment and the part of the conversation she overheard. She tells her about her idea of moving back home, or possibly renting out a small apartment if she can find a way to get the money together. 

Maki’s only response was she should talk to Nozomi and Eli. A funny statement from her, considering how hard it used to be for her to be honest. She briefly wondered if Maki had gotten better at being honest with her feelings, but the thought didn’t last long when she remembered her advice. Talking with Nozomi and Eli sounded like it’d be easy enough, but how would she even start that conversation.

‘Hey Nozomi, Eli, I kinda want to talk to you about all the awkward things going on, think we can talk about what you guys are hiding from me?’ Nico almost rolls her eyes at the thought. If it were that easy, she would have done it days ago.

She’s finishing up in the bath now, sighing to herself as the hot water drains and she dries herself off with the towel. She ties her hair up and slips into clothes she set out for herself, slipping her cardigan on last before stepping out of the bathroom. Steam leaves the room and she steps out into the hallway, shivering from the difference in temperature. She walks towards the living room and greets her roommates with a wave.

She steps into the room and notices both Eli and Nozomi are sitting at the coffee table, talking with themselves. Nico’s noticed ever since she overheard the conversation, the two of them have been closer. It’s a if those days of sitting a space apart from each other and awkward conversations never happened. She notices how their hands are stretched across the table, their fingers slightly entangled with one another. It piques her curiosity, but she doesn’t comment on it as she takes a seat with them at the table, not catching what they were talking about but definitely gaining their attention. They flash her quick smiles and Nico tries not to narrow her eyes. There’s something unsettling about them- they’re completely different from how they were at dinner time. Are they nervous?

“Welcome back, Nicocchi.” Nozomi greets, “We saw some of the girls today and Honoka-chan gave us some of her family’s sweets, so we saved them as an after dinner snack. Would you like some?”

Japanese sweets after a nice warm bath? Nico would love nothing more. She quickly says yes and Eli doesn’t hesitate to pour her a cup of tea as Nozomi gives her a plate with a few sweets on it. Nico thanks them and takes a bite of one of them, making a pleasant sound after the first bite. She can feel the gazes of Nozomi and Eli on her and she peers over to them, narrowing her eyes a bit as she glances between them.

“What is it?” She asks, unsure of if she actually wants to know.

Eli opens her mouth but it’s Nozomi who speaks.

“Nothing really Nicocchi. Why do you ask?”

Nico knows that tone of voice. They know something she doesn’t. Nico frowns and puts her food down, looking at the two of them. Remembering Maki’s advice, she takes Nozomi’s question as the opportunity to voice her thoughts.

“You’ve both been acting weird. What aren’t you telling me?” She asks in a flat voice.

Nozomi and Eli lock gazes for a moment and Eli speaks this time.

“How so?”

“Really?” She raises an eyebrow at Eli and puts her manju down. “You both don’t think you’ve been behaving weird the last few weeks?”

They’re quiet for a moment, contemplating what to say. Nico waits, grabbing her cup and taking a small sip of her tea. Eli does the same as Nozomi speaks.

“We saw Maki-chan with the others today,” she changes the subject, causing Nico to frown.

“Did you?” Nico asks, moving her cup away from her. Normally, she wouldn’t humour this and force the two of them back to their previous topic of conversation, but Eli cuts her off before she can do that.

“We did. She seemed glad to see us, because she told us that you had something you wanted to talk with us about.” Eli’s words are hitting her like a hammer to the head of a nail and Nico can feel the unsettling feeling creeping over her.

“O-okay. Well, she’s wrong, there isn’t anythin-”

“Nicocchi,” Nozomi calls her name sadly, cutting her off and grabbing her full attention. “Maki-chan mentioned you were thinking about moving back home. Is this true?”

Nico pales. How is she supposed to respond? Knowing Maki, she probably told them just enough to get themselves involved. If they know she was thinking about moving back home, there’s no way she can lie herself out of this conversation.

“Y..yeah.. About that...” Nico lets her voice trail off, wondering how to begin.

The other two don’t say a word, but look at her with sad eyes. Nico can’t bring herself to look at either of them as she looks at the table. She waits a moment before going on to tell them the truth.

“It’s not hard to tell you guys have been having some kind of issues. I noticed but tried to hide that, since your relationship isn’t really any of my business, you know? I was being polite, I guess. It’s not something I should get involved in. Even though I wanted to- I didn’t.”

“So last week I got kinda thirsty. It was like, one am or something. I went and got a drink and when I was going back to bed I heard you guys. Well, I heard Nozomi. She was crying. It didn’t sit right and before I could see what was going on, I heard her ask you how... you guys are going to tell me. That’s it. I don’t really know what you have to tell me but then Eli went on to say you’ll look for places online and I left after that. I didn’t wanna hear anymore.”

Nico keeps looking at the table as she continues.

“I sort of put two and two together and realized you guys were going through something and I thought maybe the reason behind that is because I’m around all the time. You don’t have any time to yourselves, you don’t go on many dates, to be honest I don’t know if I’ve seen you guys do any pda outside small kisses and hand holding. So I figured, maybe if I left, your relationship wouldn’t be at risk and you guys would be able to have as much time with each other without me interrupting or anything.”

This is when Nico brings herself to look at both Nozomi and Eli, only to find heartbroken expressions on their faces. Eli looks awful- like she’s committed a huge felony punishable by death, and Nozomi looks as if she watched a puppy get kicked across the room. Nico can’t take it- it’s too overwhelming.

“A-anyway, I’m sure if I leave things will get better and you guys won’t have to worry about having no private time with each other.” She stands up, not wanting to stay in the suffocating atmosphere. “I’m just- I’m gunna go wash the dishes.”

She makes it to the kitchen in a few swift movements, heading straight to the sink. She begins running the hot water, grabbing the dish soap and squirting some into the now filling sink. She grabs the dishcloth and she can feel the sting of tears that threaten to fall. There’s the sound of footsteps approaching her and she sighs, wishing they’d let her have a moment to just clean the stupid dishes and calm herself down. 

She stops when she realizes they don’t plan to leave.

“What?” She grumbles, turning to her left to see Eli. Eli swallows nervously and looks at her with concern etched on her features.

“Is that what you really thought?” Eli asks in a hurt voice.

“I-” Nico wishes she could take it all back but it’s too late now. She frowns, hastily bringing her arm up and wiping the small tears that formed with her sleeve. “Well, what else was I supposed to think?! You guys have been showing obvious signs, and with what I heard you guys say that night, how am I not supposed to believe it’s because of me?!”

Her voice gets louder as her worries consume her and she avoids both their gazes. Nozomi reaches out and touches Nico’s arm gently but the girl tenses from the gesture. Nozomi’s hand is still outstretched but she takes the step closer to her, not wanting to be pushed away like this.

“Nicocchi,” She calls, “That isn’t what we were talking about at all.”

Nico’s eyes glaze over Nozomi and she finds the older girl looking at her with a tender gaze. One that seems to understand more of the situation than Nico does. She feels infuriated by it and it only makes her angrier.

“Then what were you talking about? If it wasn’t about that then what could you have possibly meant with all your awkward behaviours and sketchy conversations?!” She seethes, uncrossing her arms and gesturing between Nozomi and Eli. “Unlike you two, I can’t understand what you’re saying through small gestures and touches, or glance of the eye. I can’t tell what you guys are trying to do. I’ve never had a bond like that with anyone until u’s and you two, and even now I still find myself out of the loop!”

She watches the hurt flash through Nozomi’s eyes and instantly regrets her choice of words.

“That’s-” She starts, trying to make up for the bad phrasing, “That’s not how I meant it- I just-”

“Nico,” Eli starts and her attention is brought away from Nozomi. She doesn’t look mad or disappointed, but there is a heavy tone to her voice. “You’re right. There has been some unsettling feelings between the two of us lately.”

Eli’s throat goes dry and she swallows, trying to find her words. She rubs the back of her neck nervously and frowns.

“We should have talked with you about it afterward. But It’s hard- we’ve never really been through anything like this before. It’s new and well-” Eli flashes her an uncertain smile, “We’re just trying to understand it is all.”

Nico’s hands shake a bit and she clenches her hands into small fists.

“Then just tell me! Let me help!” She shouts exasperatedly. There’s nothing but tension in the air as Nico sighs, her stomach twisting in knots and the words flowing out of her mouth unfiltered. “You two are my best friends. Living with you has been great up until all of this. If there’s problems in the house, you can’t just expect me to be able to avoid it all the time, you know? I don’t like knowing that there’s issues that you guys are trying to hide it from me, especially if I could be part of the problem.”

She can feel loads of stress being lifted off her chest. It feels good to say it outloud.

“That’s- well that’s basically-” Eli can’t even word herself right, she groans and puts her face into her hands. “This isn’t how I wanted this to go at all. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go.”

“Elichi, it’s okay-” Nozomi starts and Eli groans.

“It’s not okay Nozomi, it’s a mess!” Her voice begins to rise and there’s tears in her eyes when she removes her hands “We’ve made Nico feel like this! We’ve done the opposite of what we wanted to this whole time.”

With Eli being as flustered as she is, Nico’s stress free moment is over. She looks in confusion to Nozomi, who seems to be the only one able to stay calm despite the flurry of emotions surrounding them. Nozomi looks from Eli to Nico, holding her gaze for a moment. She makes a decision by stepping towards Nico again and this time, she doesn’t try to move away from her.

“Nicocchi,” She starts quietly. “I want to tell you everything. I don’t want to hide it from you anymore, and I want you to know. But I need you to promise to listen until the very end and keep an open mind about it all, okay?”

An open mind about what? Nico’s tempted to ask, but at this point she’s tired. She’s tired, confused, hurt, and honestly now that some of her feelings were off her chest she could really go for a hamburger with a large side of french fries. She leans against the counter for some support and sighs.

“I will,” She promises, “Just tell me so we can fix this.”

It’s important to her that they know she wants things back to the way they were. The comfortable circle they began to have amongst the three of them is what they wanted from the very beginning. The months of spending time individually with each of them between classes, their shared chores and study time around the apartment, the days where they’d go out with each other just for a change of scenery. All of it is everything she’s wanted for so long. She doesn’t want this time with them to end, and if there’s any way they can fix this, she wants them to know she’ll jump at the opportunity.

Nozomi looks to Eli, who has her arms crossed and stares at the tiled floor below them. She’s nervous and lost in her thoughts. The both of them feel a little guilty seeing Eli so uncertain, and Nico gently nudges her with her foot to bring her attention away from the ground. Eli glances up and looks at her, a frown on her face and a few pieces of hair sticking out of place. Nico pulls her foot back and looks to Nozomi and with a bit of hesitance Eli does the same. Once Eli’s attention is on her, Nozomi starts to explain.

“You’re right; you’re involved in a way, but it’s not because of what you think.” She continues. “You think that the reason Elichi and I have been weird is because we’re fighting and you think we’re fighting because we don’t get enough alone time with one another. You thought that maybe if you left, you wouldn’t have to listen to Elichi or I asking you if we could leave. That’s what you were getting at earlier, right?”

Hearing it like that makes Nico’s heart sink, and she averts her gaze. Even if it’s only half true, she doesn’t confirm or deny Nozomi’s statement. Eli winces and Nozomi continues.

“You couldn’t be more wrong, Nicocchi. We can’t imagine our lives without you in them.”

“But-” Nico interrupts and Nozomi lifts a finger and puts it to her lips. There’s a fierceness to her gaze and she quickly closes her mouth, not wanting to face the punishment of interrupting her as she’s getting to her point.

“The truth is, Elichi and I have been a little dishonest with each other. We each had a secret that we were too afraid to talk about. I was scared because I knew what I wanted, but I didn’t know what to do-”

“-and I was scared because I was confused about what I wanted, and didn’t know how to feel.” Eli cuts in, sliding herself to the counter space beside Nico. Nozomi removes her hand and smiles through the heavy moment.

“That night I was crying because I was relieved, and feeling a little silly. In the end both Elichi and I figured out that if we had talked about it together in the first place, we could have helped each other out a lot faster. We did a lot of research, we talked about our feelings, and we came to a conclusion that made us both happy.”

She lifts her hand to affectionately brush some of Nico’s bangs from her face. Her fingers glide down her cheek and leave a burning sensation in their wake. Nico can feel the slight tremor in her touch and wonders how nervous Nozomi is actually feeling. She watches as Nozomi lets her hand fall further down until it reaches the hem of her cardigan. Nozomi’s fingers hold onto it in an almost shy gesture, and her eyes fall down towards them.

“The only thing we have left to worry about is how you might feel.” She practically mumbles.

Nico’s frustration grows and it takes all of her not to show that in her tone of voice.

“How I feel about what?” She turns to Eli to find the answer.

The taller girl has relaxes a bit, leaning most of her weight on the countertop behind them. She has a small hint of pink to her cheeks and she bends her head a little bit, enough to lean it on Nico’s shoulder. Nico sighs a little and turns back to Nozomi, who looks on with an adoring smile.

“We love you, Nicocchi.” Nozomi states clearly.

Nico stares at her a little dumbfounded. It’s the complete opposite of what she expects to hear. The knots in her stomach tighten and Nico swallows the lump in her throat.

“You... what?” She asks confused.

“We love you.” Eli repeats, lifting her head to look at her face. “Both of us do.”

She can’t believe her ears. Did they both just confess to her? This definitely isn’t a dream, Nico confirmed this was real the moment she asked what was up at the coffee table. She knew it was real from the anxiety she felt the moment Nozomi brought up the idea of moving back home, and the moment Eli got upset at the realization of how they made her feel. But the fact of the matter still stands- they both love her, and the fear she felt feeling something so strongly for the both of them at the same time suddenly becomes way less scary as she realizes the both of them are comfortable with the fact they’re in love with her too.

“Let me get this straight-” Nico starts, trying to wrap her head around it all and be sure she understands it right. “The reason everything’s been so awkward lately is because you both  _ love  _ me?!”

“Yes.” Nozomi and Eli say at the same time, Nozomi smirking a little from the irony of Nico saying she wants to get it straight.

“The romantic kind of love. The kind where you’d ask me to be your girlfriend and everything.”

Eli lifts her head and makes sure Nico is looking at her when she speaks.

“ _ Our _  girlfriend.” She corrects, “we want you to be our girlfriend.”

She bites the inside of her cheek, unsure of how to react exactly. She wonders how they were able to come to the conclusion they both wanted to date her at the same time. Is that what the finer details to their conversation the other night was? Before she can stop herself, she breathes out a one word question.

“Why?”

There’s a small silence. Nozomi and Eli look between each other, wondering who should answer first. Nico feels stupid asking why, but she wants the validation. She wants to know this isn’t all just some fantasy inside her head. She wants more proof this is real and the confirmation that Nozomi and Eli really do like her in that way.

Eli stands straighter and clears her throat.

“You mean why do we like you?” She asks. Nico nods and she blushes a little.

“Maybe more like… what made you like me too?” she asks, uncertain if that’s something she really wants to know.

“Oh Nicocchi,” Nozomi starts, a small playful smile on her lips. “Are you trying to tell us there’s no way the both of us could be in love with the world’s number one idol?”  She pokes Nico’s cheek teasingly and Nico brushes away her hand, embarrassed. Nozomi laughs lightly before continuing.

“Maybe we should go sit down before we continue this conversation.”

Nico and Eli seem to agree. Nozomi leads the way out of the kitchen and back towards their small table in the living room. The cups of tea from earlier are lukewarm and waiting in the spots they were left in. They slowly take their seats, Nico glancing anxiously between Nozomi and Eli. She’s dying for someone to speak- the silence around the three of them is becoming overwhelmingly loud.

“I think that’s a hard question to answer. I feel like I’ve always loved you.” Nozomi eventually says, looking to Nico as she speaks “I may have loved you ever since our third year in Otonokizaka.”

“Eh?” Nico looks a bit skeptical at the other girl, her hands tightening into small fists in her lap

“The more I think about it, the more unsure I am.” She admits with a sigh. “I’m not sure what made me fall in love with you. It might have been your personality. Or the way you smile the moment either of us comes home from classes. You have a hard time waking up, but you always know how you’re going to spend your day and it’s cute watching you go over the plans in the early morning. It might be your determination and how when you set your mind to it, you do your best to accomplish your goals.”

Nozomi’s got that loving expression, the kind that Nico’s only ever seen her look at Eli with. She’s lost in her own thoughts with a small smile playing on her lips. There’s no mistaking it- that’s the smile of a girl in love and a girl who is happy to be in love. Nico’s heart flips once. She looks at Eli to find her gaze soft and happy. She’s content hearing Nozomi’s small confession. Nico wants to nudge her and grab her attention, but Eli is two steps ahead of her and continues from where Nozomi left off.

“It might even be your stubborn attitude. You’ve never given up, not for as long as I can remember. Even during our third year, while you weren’t actively looking for members for the idol research club, you still stuck by your idol rules. Without you, u’s wouldn’t have become half the idols they were at the time.”

Eli says it fondly, like she hadn’t been opposed to their group at the time. Nico almost sighs. Eli blushes a bit and continues to speak.

“I’m not the same as Nozomi. I don’t think I loved you in this way during our days at Otonokizaka.” She admits with a guilty smile, “I respect you a lot Nico. I learnt so much about performing and how to make the audience smile from you. And well, you also showed me how to put eyeliner on much better than I had been too. I know that’s not relevant to what we’re talking about but I felt it should be mentioned.”

Nozomi laughs and Nico smiles. It’s not like Eli was horrible at applying it in high school, Nico just showed her how to do it better. She loosens the grip of her hands and her shoulders relax a little as the atmosphere becomes a bit more comfortable.

“Going on,” Eli begins again, the pink on her cheeks practically glowing, “I know in the time we’ve been living together, my feelings for you have done nothing but grow. Sometimes my mind would wander when we’d be walking home from university together. I’d glance at your hands and wonder how they might feel in mine and I’d think about it for the rest of the walk.”

Eli’s hands are on the table in front of her and she plays with her thumbs as she goes on.

“I wondered so many different things that bordered over the line of friendship and it began to worry me the more I thought about them. The fear of losing both your friendship and Nozomi became a little overwhelming, so I’d try to stop those thoughts as they happened. I could never force myself to spend time away from you, so I just ignored every little romantic thought I ever had. At first it wasn’t too hard, it’d only happen occasionally, but the more I pushed the thoughts away, the harder it was to stop them. I knew it was bad the moment I couldn’t stop thinking about kissing you.”

Eli squirms a bit in her spot and shyly glances to Nozomi, who only wears a sympathetic smile.

“A mutual thought, Elichi.” She says in a small sing song voice. “I can’t count how many times I’ve wondered that same thing.”

She looks to Nico with a half lidded gaze and a lazy smile and Nico knows she’s staring at her lips. She subconciously licks them and ignores the way Nozomi forces her attention up to her eyes. She glances away from Nozomi’s stare and looks at the table, processing the things both she and Eli have said. She furrows her brows a little bit and looks at the tea that sits an arms length away from her.

“But then what happened? I mean, I know what happened, but how are you both okay with this?” Nico asks with a frown. “How are you both okay with having feelings for me?”

They share a small smile.

“I had enough of awkwardly dodging Elichi and my feelings. The day I woke up next to you in your bed was when I knew I couldn’t ignore it anymore. I messaged Elichi saying we needed to talk,” Nozomi explains, “Of course, nothing is easy when you say something like that to your partner.” Eli chuckles a bit.

“I swore Nozomi was going to break up with me because she knew.” Eli recalls. “I was prepared for her to tell me she knew how I felt about you, get upset because I was unsure about my feelings and I called Alisa right after saying there was a chance I’d be coming over for another night. I don’t even remember the excuse I gave her when she asked me why, but I know it was very unbelieveable. She knew something was up.”

“Because you can’t lie to save your life when you’re flustered.” Nico points out and Eli nods.

“We waited about a half hour after you went to bed before going to our room and talking through it all. It was horrible.” Eli shakes her head. “I was a nervous mess, ready to jump at the first thing Nozomi was going to say. But she didn’t say anything. She kind of froze and we couldn’t look each other in the eyes. I was convinced we were going to break up and that scared me more than anything, so I went to grab her hand and ask her what was wrong.”

“I pulled away,” Nozomi adds, continuing the story, “I didn’t want her to hold my hand when I was afraid I was going to break her heart. I could only hope that Elichi would understand that my feelings for you didn’t mean I didn’t have feelings for her either. I love Elichi, I don’t think any of that changed when I realized I loved you too Nicocchi.”

They both sigh a bit and Eli shakes her head.

“But we talked it through. It was hard, but we eventually got past our anxious thoughts. Nozomi started crying halfway through her explanation and she kept apologizing. I felt so much relief I could do nothing but hold her and tell her it was okay, before explaining myself. We both cried. I think this might be the part where you overheard Nozomi asking me what we were going to do about it.”

Nico looks down sheepishly, feeling silly. Nozomi reaches her hand out onto the table, leaving it open face up. Nico stares at it for a moment before hesitantly bringing one of her hands up and placing it on top of Nozomi’s. It’s soft and warm and Nico loves the way Nozomi’s fingers close around her own.

“I’m sorry that you heard that part.” Nozomi apologizes sincerely. “We went to bed after that but we began to look at people who could help us and answer our questions. We had to search quite a bit but Elichi found something that fit exactly what we were looking for and we began to educate ourselves. We were happy and we decided we wanted to ask you to be with us, but then we met up with Maki-chan and well...”

The three of them are silent once Nozomi finishes speaking. Nico’s lips close in a tight line as she begins to think about everything. Everything they say is true. It’s true and they love her and she loves them and right now should be one of the happiest moments of Nico’s life, but all she wants to do is take the both of them and pinch them. She wants to scold them for letting such a silly thing get between the two of them and she wants to tell them both how stupid they are for making her feel this way too. She supposes that the latter part would be unnecessary, they really didn’t know, but that doesn’t change the fact she still wants to do it.

“You’re ridiculous.” She says, squeezing Nozomi’s hand. “I can’t believe you two. Seriously! You got me so worried about all of this I thought I needed to move out in order for you two to save your relationship. What would you have done if I had kept it a giant secret until the day I left?”

They both frown and Nico sighs.

“You two are hopeless.” She decides. “Seriously, seriously hopeless.”

Everything happens at once, she realizes. She’s started to cry, but she’s smiling. Nozomi lets go of her hand and moves from her side of the table, wrapping her arms around her. Nico lets her, leaning into her tight embrace. She can hear movements from where Eli was and it isn’t long before she feels the weight of Eli on her other side while she holds onto Nozomi, comprehending everything they just talked about. She can’t believe how opposite the feelings really were- how Eli and Nozomi wanted her to become something more in their lives instead of telling her they were ready for the next step of their own. She realizes, in a way they were telling her they want to take the next step, but they want to take it with her. They don’t want to continue their relationship together- they want to start something new, and they want it with her. Her heart beat soars as she finds herself burying her face into Nozomi’s shoulder.

“Nicocchi?” Nozomi whispers her name, rubbing her back soothingly.

Nico sniffles a bit and shifts in Nozomi’s embrace, cracking an eye open and glancing behind her to Eli. Eli’s got her arms wrapped around both her and Nozomi, and her gaze looks at Nico with a lot of uncertainty. Like she wants to ask about the elephant in the room, but she doesn’t want to ruin the mood. A quick look up to Nozomi shows a different gaze, one that’s put their feelings on the back burner and looks at Nico with concern and worry. There’s no hope in her eyes for any kind of answer, not right now. Her main focus is on the girl she holds. Nico sighs and buries her face into Nozomi again.

“Don’t look so worried. I’m not upset. I’m.. I’m really happy right now you know.” She mumbles into her. “Do you know how long I’ve loved you two?”

Eli inhales sharply behind her and Nozomi tenses a little. It’s news to both of them, which excites Nico. They’re probably staring at each other with wide eyes. Nico laughs a little at the thought and pulls herself away, looking at them with teary eyes.

“Well the answer is definitely a while. Probably. Stupid Rin made a comment about it and I hadn’t really realized what I was feeling was that.” She wipes her eyes with her sleeves and Eli’s the first to speak between her and Nozomi.

“You mean you’ve loved us this whole time too?!” She sounds exasperated, but happy. The kind of voice she has when she finally understands everything to the last detail. Nico almost laughs again but instead she sighs contently.

“I wouldn’t say the whole time, but yeah. It just sort of happened. I didn’t want to act on it because of obvious reasons. I mean, polyamory isn’t just something you can ask the two hotties you room with about, you know? Not to mention I was afraid of what would happen with our relationship if I even mentioned it, or what might happen with you two even and- well, I don’t know it just felt like something I’d never be able to tell you guys until we’re forty and I was past these feelings and you were both happily married for years already.”

Nozomi giggles. Eli’s face is bright red from the very idea of it all and she shakes her head, stopping herself from imagining the future and keeping her attention on Nico. She pulls her arms back and smiles fondly at the other two girls in front of her. She props her elbow on the table and rests her head in her hand as she watches Nico turn her face back into Nozomi. The way Nozomi’s face lights up only makes her smile more and she chuckles softly.

The three of them stay close and if it were possible, Nico would live in this moment forever. This moment of pure bliss and happiness, it’s the closest Nico’s ever felt to the two of them. She wonders if she should ask if this makes them all officially girlfriends, but the idea sounds silly. Instead, Nico grins and pulls her face away from Nozomi.

“So I guess this means you two are dating the cutest girl in school.” She says, her grin becoming a sly smirk. “You’re the luckiest girls around, not many people can say that they’re dating the one and only Nico-Nii! Imagine how great that will be once I become famous!”

“Hmm, or maybe you’re the lucky one dating the cute blonde who provided Haruka’s voice for the ‘Chin in Hand kisses’ trailer.” Eli teases, leaning in and taking her hand to grab ahold of Nico’s chin. Nico hates how her cheeks flush a bright crimson.

“Geeze,” she mumbles, “Maybe instead I’m lucky that Nozomi’s not a huge dork.”

“Arguable.” Eli counters and Nozomi laughs. Her thumb brushes against Nico’s lips and Nico swallows the lump in her throat.

“Or... maybe you’re just lucky.” Eli breathes, moving her face dangerously close to Nico’s.

Her heart races faster and Nico wonders for a moment if Nozomi is uncomfortable with the fact Eli’s about to kiss her. Eli’s lips are so close to hers that Nico can smell the vanilla lip balm she wears. She tilts her face up a little bit, hoping to brush her lips against Eli’s for just a brief moment. Instead, thanks to a certain someone from behind her, she’s gently bumped forward and her lips and nose crash right into Eli’s. Nico gasps and Eli winces from mild pain and behind them Nozomi makes a hum of approval. If it weren’t for the fact this was her first kiss with Eli, Nico might have turned to glare at Nozomi.

Their kiss is short lived and Eli rubs her nose while Nico takes in her post kiss moment with the taller girl. She turns to shoot Nozomi a glare but finds her staring at Nico like the cat that got the cream. Before Nico can even get a word out Nozomi’s lips are pressed against hers and her head begins to spin. She’s unsure if it’s because of how fast the second kiss happens or because of the way Nozomi eagerly presses herself to her, but it doesn’t stop her from smiling and returning the kiss. When they pull away, Nico takes a deep breath of air and ignores the small chuckle that comes from Eli, who leans forward to stop her from falling to the floor.

“Woah,” Nico gasps, “That’s- that’s something I’ll have to get used to.”

The other two laugh and Nico shifts a bit embarrassed, but happy. Sitting with little space between Nozomi and Eli, she doesn’t mind the fact that she and Eli are pressed closer together with their thighs touching, or that Nozomi’s fingers absentmindedly play with her own. Nozomi leans herself onto Nico’s other side and she nuzzles her face into her, humming contently.

“Let’s do nothing for the rest of the night.” She murmurs, “We’ll pull out the lumpy blanket and sleep out here, like we did when we moved in.”

Nico remembers the half finished dishes that sit in the sink and is far from opposed to the idea of finishing them. Nico can feel Eli twisting to look towards the clock. She exhales softly.

“It is close to bedtime.” She agrees, glancing down, “But I don’t really want to move.”

“Me either.” Nozomi adds.

Green and blue eyes look towards Nico and she stares back, narrowing her eyes at them.

“Really? You both put me through all that stress and now you’re asking me to get the big lumpy blanket?” She stares at them incredulously, but neither of them move. She huffs.

“Geeze, you guys are so lazy. Eli, Nozomi’s rubbed off on you way too much.” Nico scolds, but there’s no seriousness behind her words. She wiggles out from between the two and heads towards their room and opens up the closet, where they keep the large blanket until winter rolls around.

It doesn’t take her long to find said comforter. She wraps it around herself, fixing it so that her feet won’t step on any of the fabric as she walks. She shuffles back to the living room with care and immediately notices that Eli and Nozomi have moved the table aside and created a perfect bedspace for the three of them. Some of the throw blankets that rest on the couch have been laid out, and the three couch pillows are placed nicely in a line right beside one another. Nico heads over to it before falling to the floor, pressing her face into the center pillow and exhaling loudly.

“Eh? I thought I heard Nicocchi come back, but all I see is the lumpy blanket.” Nozomi comments from the kitchen area, amusement in her voice.

“I thought I did too... I wonder if she went to get pillows.” Eli adds, and Nico can hear the smile on her face.

She’s about to reply to the both of them until she feels the weight if someones head resting next to hers outside the blanket, followed by a happy sigh. She almost laughs as she recalls a very similar moment to this the first night they had in the apartment. There’s another weight added to her other side and she can feel an arm comfortably rest itself on her back.

“The lumpy blanket feels extra snuggly tonight, doesn’t it Nozomi?” Eli remarks, pulling the blanket and Nico closer to her.

“Mmhmm.. It’s nice and warm too~ Looks like the heating function works great.”

Nico decides its been long enough and she laughs, rolling onto her back and pulling the blanket off her face.

“Ah! there she is!!” Nozomi exclaims.

“God you two are such huge dorks.” She chides. “I can’t believe I like you both.”

“Me either.” Eli says wistfully, shuffling under the blanket and closer to Nico. “Dreams do come true.”

The other two laugh and Nico lifts the blanket for Nozomi, letting her slide underneath the covers with her and Eli. Nozomi drapes her arm over the petite girl and her hand finds itself just above Eli’s hip, resting comfortably there. She yawns and it creates a chain reaction, causing Nico to yawn and then finally Eli. They snuggle close, whispering goodnight to each other and closing their eyes, welcoming sleep happily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for sticking around and reading the whole story! I hope you enjoyed it and I hope that all the angst was worth the happy end :')  
> If you're keeping up with more of my stories, please look forward to my other ongoing story having better and faster updates!! Now that this is out of my system I'll be able to work on it more jwfn  
> Thanks again for reading!!


End file.
